RAYS 7, JAYS 6: Three-game sweep caps 14-12 month, has manager cautiously optimistic: "It's starting to look like a baseball team."
By TOM JONES
Published August 1, 2003
TORONTO - The pitching looks, well, not half-bad. The hitting? Somewhat impressive. The defense seems respectable.
They hustle, they try, they even manage to pull out a few unexpected victories.
By golly, the Devil Rays are starting to resemble a real baseball team.
They capped a winning month Thursday with their first three-game sweep in nearly a year and only their 12th ever by beating the Blue Jays 7-6 before 29,544 at SkyDome.
"It's starting to look like a baseball team."
Who said that? None other than manager Lou Piniella, the same guy who dyed his hair the last time the Rays won three consecutive games and the same guy who was ready to pull his hair out after the Rays went through the worst month in franchise history (5-21) in June.
Moments after the Rays swept a series for the first time since Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at Texas, Piniella leaned back in his chair as if another victory were old hat. In fact, when Piniella was asked about dying his hair again, it almost seemed like a silly question.
"I'm all dyed out," Piniella said with a smile. "(But) there's good closeness in here. Everybody roots for each other. They're all playing hard and well. It's good for an organization, for a manager and for a coaching staff to see this thing starting to come together."
Piniella isn't looking for ticker-tape parades or the cover of Sports Illustrated, but after the Rays finished July with a 14-12 record, he does feel like a train conductor heading down the right track.
"Let's not get crazy about this thing," he said. "We're only 14-12 and we got a tough schedule ahead of us. But I look forward to the last two months with a little optimism."
Thursday was a good example of the type of ball the Rays have been playing. Piniella asked starting pitcher Jorge Sosa to give him a "hard" 100-105 pitches.
"And that's exactly what he gave us," Piniella said.
Sosa threw 108 pitches and picked up the victory, his fourth of the season, by allowing two runs and three hits over 51/3 innings. Then five relievers pitched just well enough to preserve a big Rays lead for the victory.
Meantime, the offense produced seven runs to give the Rays 21 for the series. Damian Rolls led the way with three RBIs and three hits, including his sixth homer. Antonio Perez and Julio Lugo chipped in with two hits each as the Rays banged out 13 to sweep the Blue Jays in Toronto for the first time.
"Doesn't matter who it's against, but it's nice to sweep a team that's in the (playoff) hunt," Rolls said. "It's one thing to sweep a team that's not that good, but to sweep a team like this, it's outstanding."
"It's awesome," catcher Toby Hall said. "Hopefully we can build on this."
Things got dicey late when the Blue Jays climbed out of a 7-3 hole with a three-run eighth. But Lance Carter came on in the ninth with a runner on first and one out to close out the victory for his 18th save.
"We're starting to put some nice pieces together," Piniella said. "For us to win, we need to get consistent. These were a nice three games for us. There are a lot of nice things happening here, nice subtle things that we've got to be pleased about.
"So let's be pleased, but let's not be ecstatic."
[Last modified August 1, 2003, 08:45:45]
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